Sapna (Sharmila Tagore), flying back to India from the USA, is involved in an airplane engine "flameout". She loves poetry, in particular the work of a poet called Ujjwala. Unable to distinguish between the poet and the poetry, she sets out on a journey to meet the poet in a place called Phulwari. Sapna believes that Ujjwala is her dream man. Her wealthy father, worried by her distraction consults a psychiatrist who pronounces that Sapna needs treatment and must be sent to his clinic for an extended period of time. Running away from home, in a beautiful red MG TF (probably a 1954 model) she comes across Sunil (Shashi Kapoor) working on his Jeep (one of the early right-hand drive versions that Mahindras produced). A couple of accidents later they find themselves in a luxurious Mercedes Benz tour coach (possibly an O 321 H - with a rear engine) and their journey of exploration begins. Faced with obstacles, raised by greedy people who want to get the informant's reward announced by Sapna's father Randhir Singh Chauhan; and going through some comic as well as dangerous interludes the screen couple arrive at the climax on their way to Phulwari. Sunil is doing his best to escort Sapna to Phulwari. How Sapna reconciles her love for Ujjwala, who she has only met through his poetry and Sunil's unreciprocated love for her makes for an interesting denouement.
Sapna (Sharmila Tagore) is smitten by a writer & wants to marry him. Sapna has never met the writer and has only read his poetry in books. She studies in the US and has recently returned to India. On her way back her plane caught fire and Sapna barely escaped alive with the rest of the passengers.Sapna's father is a rich businessman, and she lives a life of opulence and lavishness.
Her father believes that Sapna is of age where she should get married and wants to organize a SwayamVar for her, where she can choose her own groom from a selection of candidates. Sapna wants all poets and writers to be invited to the SwayamVar, but her father wants Princes and Kings to be in attendance instead.
Sapna tells her father about her love for a writer, whom she has never met. Her dad (Om Prakash) thinks she is out of her mind & wants to put her into an asylum after consulting his family Dr Singh (K.N. Singh).Dr. Singh was called to evaluate Sapna, and she finds out through the house help. Sapna is indignant and acts very weirdly and rudely with Dr. Singh, only cementing his suspicions about her unstable mental state. He believes she has PTSD from her encounter in the plane crash.
Sapna escapes in her red car in search of the writer & crashes into Sunil's (Shashi Kapoor) jeep, who is a vagabond. Sapna is travelling to the town of Phulwari where her writer lives, but now her car is damaged. Phulwari is 800 Kms away, so Sunil only agrees to drop her to nearest bus station. Sapna offers money and even offers to buy Sunil's jeep, but he refuses. Sapna decides to wait for another car. Meanwhile Sunil has an accident and is rescued by a passing bus.
Turns out Sapna is already inside the bus. Other passengers include Mohan (Manmohan Krishna), Mr. (David Abraham) & Mrs. (Lalita Pawar), Driver (Mohan Sherry), Keshto (Keshto Mukherjee), Army Colonel (Master Bhagwan).At the next rest stop, Sunil introduces himself to Sapna. He understands Sapna's situation, but she still hates him for abandoning her.
The passengers have to stay overnight at a lodge. Sunil overhears a few goons making a plan to grab Sapna, as she appears quite rich and well off. These goons have been following Sapna since she crashed her red car on the highway. Sunil agrees to protect Sapna in exchange for all her money.Then Sunil meets the goons and misguides them to a different city in search of Sapna. Turns out the goons were sent by Sapna's father to bring her back.
Sapna continue her journey on bus. Sunil cares for Sapna and puts all her money back into her purse.A new ad is released by her dad with a reward of 5 Lakhs for the person returning her. The entire bus reads the newspaper and is now after Sapna for the reward money.Daku Mangal Singh (Ramayan Tiwari) also sees the ad and goes after the bus as he had seen Sapna at the rest stop.Sunil hires a mechanic Mukkaramjah Mknaik 'Mukri' (Mukri) to go back to his jeep to get it fixed, but at the last minute he sees Sapna's photo in the newspaper and decides to board the bus.
Sunil takes Sapna and escapes when the bus stops near a lake. Sapna and Sunil cross the lake into the jungle on the other side. The other passengers fight among themselves and are not able to follow.
Sunil loves her but is afraid to say anything. Meanwhile Sapna believes that Sunil will try to take advantage of her in the jungle. She begs Sunil not to touch her as she belongs to someone else.Sunil backs off and Sapna starts to trust him.The next day, Sunil treks to the location of his jeep, where Mukri has repaired it. Sunil asks Mukri to pick up Sapna from the jungle and drop her to Phulwari. But Sapna asks Mukri to take her back to Sunil.She apologizes to Sunil for misunderstanding him.Sunil agrees to drop Sapna to Phulwari. Sunil still won't admit his feelings to Sapna. When Sapna continues to lavish praise on her writer, Sunil admonishes Sapna that she only loves the writer's poetry and not the person himself.Sunil and Sapna are attacked by Mangal Singh, but Sunil fights Mangal off and a brutal chase ends up in Mangal being thrown off a cliff to his death.
Sapna reaches her destination, but is in love with Sunil herself, but is afraid to admit. Eventually, they both admit their feelings to each other and embrace. Meanwhile Sapna's father had followed her to Phulwari and saw her embrace Sunil. He accepts her love and takes them back home.
